美唄国設スキー場 絶対的穴場パウダー 北海道美唄市 豪雪地帯にある穴場スキー場 #美唄国設スキー場
By: YOHちゃんねる【パウダー日和】 · 2026-01-01
Bibai Kokusetsu Ski Area is a ski area in Hokkaido, Japan, on slopes between roughly 121 and 284 m. Its mapped area is about 0.9 km across, with 5 marked runs and 1 lift (about 3.1 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 232 cm of snowfall a season, 218th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. Its winters are fairly steady; even the leanest, 2019/20 (159 cm), reached 69% of the average. December brings as much snow as January here (82 and 61 cm on average). Weather models read low in the mountains: a Japan Meteorological Agency station 10.9 km away measured 531 cm a winter over the last three seasons, against 254 cm from the model. Snowfall days average −4.5 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 142nd of 397 in Japan.
Below is a link to its official live camera.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Temperature
12.3℃
Max wind
22.5km/h
Elevation (est.)
121–284m
Across
0.9km
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Seasonal snowfall
232 cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
159 cm
A typical winter: 248 cm. The best: 278 cm.
World rank
853
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
218
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
349
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 189 m, 577 m below the national median.
Quality rank
142
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
-4.5°C
Japanese median: -3.5°C
Rain days
11%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
12%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
19 km/h
Dryness 0.46
Frequency 0.35
Freedom from rain 0.71
Calm when snowing 0.96
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Katsurazawa Kokusetsu Ski Area | 8.3 km | 232 cm | 853 |
| Haginoyama Shimin Ski Area | 21 km | 164 cm | 1485 |
| Hokkaido Greenland White Park | 21 km | 164 cm | 1485 |
| Kamoidake Kokusai | 23 km | 201 cm | 1140 |
| Shintotsukawacho Sotchidake | 27 km | 205 cm | 1105 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in December. March brings 62% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: March brings 38 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
82cmDec
61cmJan
51cmFeb
38cmMar
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 232 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 159 cm; the biggest was 2020/21 with 278 cm (1.7 times as much).
159
278
14/1515/1616/1717/1818/1919/2020/2121/2222/2323/2424/2525/26
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Runs and lifts
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Marked runs
5
Run length
3.1km
Lifts
1
Vertical
176m
Top 309 m · base 133 m
Run map
Other Lift
The shape of the mountain
Longest run on the map0.8 km
Steepest pitch24°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs13.5°
Which way the slopes face
North 97%
East 2%
South 0%
West 1%
99% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
By difficulty
Other 5
Lift types
- Chairlift1
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Live Cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Furano and Tokachi webcams & snow report — all 6 ski areas →
See the snow in motion
Videos remain the copyright of whoever filmed them. JAPANSNOWLINE stores no video and plays everything through the standard YouTube player.
What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 美唄 weather station — 10.9 km from this ski area, 186 m below its mid-slope.
| Three-season average | 531 cm |
| 2023/24 | 570 cm |
| 2024/25 | 553 cm |
| 2025/26 | 471 cm |
The figure calculated on this page is 254 cm.
A weather station is not a ski slope. We picked one at a similar elevation, but it stands in a valley or a village. More snow falls on the mountain above it. We have not tried to guess how much more.
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency historical records
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kan Yasuda Sculpture Museum Arte Piazza Bibai安田侃彫刻美術館 アルテピアッツァ美唄 | Museum | 3.3 km |
| Mikasa City Museum三笠市立博物館 | Museum | 6.6 km |
| Katsurazawa Dam桂沢ダム | Nature | 9.9 km |
| Mikasa Railway Memorial Museum三笠鉄道記念館 | Museum | 10.8 km |
| Kami-Sunagawa Station上砂川駅 | Landmark | 18.2 km |
| Miyajima-numa宮島沼 | Nature | 19 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Coordinates: 43.3197, 141.9473
Places to stay nearby
3 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 美唄駅前ホテルＢＩＪＩＫＯ | ¥7,910 | 4.42 112 reviews | 7.1 km | ＪＲ北海道 美唄駅より徒歩にて約１分 |
| 青の洞窟温泉 ピパの湯 ゆ〜りん館 | ¥8,900 | 4.39 206 reviews | 5.1 km | 美唄駅より市民バスで２０～３０分 |
| ＰＲＯＳＴＩＭＯ／民泊 | ¥13,387 | — | 6.7 km | 美唄駅より徒歩で5分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
4 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Hokkaido
- A Historic El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA gives a very strong El Niño better than a 90% chance this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- Australia Just Had Its Worst Season in Twenty Years. Here Is What Japan's 12-Winter Record Says About Booking It Instead. Snow depth at Spencers Creek peaked at 94.5 cm, the third lowest since 1954, and resorts closed in August. Our own measure — snowfall, not depth — puts Australia at 50% of its 12-year average. The gap between those two numbers is the story: it was the warmth, not only the lack of snow. New Zealand, meanwhile, finished at 108% of normal.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52